Haniger, Hernandez Heading Back To Seattle To Have Injuries Examined

10:20pm: Not only did Haniger exit with an injury, but top starter Felix Hernandez departed the game with what manager Scott Servais said after the game was a “dead arm” (Twitter link via Divish). Both players are leaving Detroit and headed back to Seattle to get looked at by doctors, with Hernandez’s shoulder apparently the primary area of focus. Divish tweets that Hernandez asked not to speak to the media before leaving the clubhouse and was “visibly upset” upon exiting.

Suffice it to say, any notable absence for Hernandez will be a significant blow for a Mariners rotation that is already without Drew Smyly for at least the first two months of the season. The Mariners did stock up on optionable, upper-level pitching depth this offseason — Chris Heston, Robert Whalen, Dillon Overton and Chase De Jong were all acquired in trades — but asking two of those names to replace the likes of Smyly and King Felix for any amount of time is a tall order.

From 2015-16 (and so far in 2017), the 31-year-old Hernandez hasn’t been the dominant Cy Young candidate that most had come to expect throughout his mid-20s. However, he still notched an ERA comfortably south of 4.00 in both of those seasons and entered play Tuesday with a 3.65 mark and a brilliant 20-to-1 K/BB ratio in 24 2/3 innings. Hernandez, though, was shelled by the Tigers tonight, allowing four runs on six hits and two walks before departing after just two innings of work.

8:39pm: Mariners right fielder Mitch Haniger, one of the early candidates for American League Rookie of the Year honors, exited tonight’s game with a strained oblique muscle, per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. While there’s no further word on the severity of the injury, oblique strains have a reputation for lingering for a month or more. The Mariners, of course, won’t provide further updates until tonight’s game is wrapped up. However, Divish adds in his column that Triple-A outfielder Ben Gamel is expected to replace Haniger on the 25-man roster, thereby suggesting that a trip to the disabled list is in Haniger’s future.

The 26-year-old Haniger is off to an astonishing start to the season, having compiled a robust .338/.442/.600 batting line through his first 95 plate appearances (including two hits in his two plate appearances tonight). Acquired alongside Jean Segura in the offseason trade that sent Taijuan Walker to the D-backs, Haniger has also clubbed four homers and stolen two bases. On the defensive side of the coin, both Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating consider his work to be above-average (superlative, in the case of DRS, which already pegs him at +5 runs through just 176 innings).

The Mariners have plenty of outfield depth, although that depth took a bit of a hit over the weekend when the team rather surprisingly designated Leonys Martin for assignment. Even with Martin currently in DFA limbo, however, the Mariners have Guillermo Heredia, Jarrod Dyson, Taylor Motter and Danny Valencia as outfield-capable assets on the 25-man roster. In the minors, Gamel and Boog Powell are both on the 40-man roster. Top organizational prospect Tyler O’Neill, too, opened the season in Triple-A, though he’s played just 18 games at that level and has not gotten off to a strong start to the year (.208/.266/.417, 21 strikeouts in 79 plate appearances).

Comments

I know that O’Neil is struggling right now, but it’s time to call him up right now. Out of all the guys we could call up he’s the only one that could possibly put up similar numbers to Haniger and he is also a good defensive right fielder. Haniger has been the one guy hitting good all year and to replace him with someone who can’t really hit at all in Gamel will only make matters worst for the M’s.

Well we could keep him in AAA all year and keep on losing if you want. And there’s nothing else for O’Neil to improve on, he’s not going to be a player that hits for average like we expected Zunino to. All we need from O’Neil is some decent power and good defense for about a month. We are not making him our permanent starting catcher.

Stop looking only in the last 5-10 years. Players get to the MLB with way less at bats than O’Neil already has. The Mariners diddnt ruin Griffey after only giving him 500 minor league at bats. The Nationals diddnt ruin Harper by only giving him 600. And the Cubs diddnt ruin Schwarber by only giving him 600. Now how many at bats does O’Neil have? Nearly 1500. Maybe Zunino was never meant to be anything more than a defense only catcher. We gave him more time in AAA and can you tell me how well he’s doing so far this season?

It doesn’t matter how many hitters they cycle up if the pitching can’t do the job.Felix is looking more and more past his prime. Same for Iwakuma.And the bullpen is a joke.Heston and Marshall were pathetic tonight.When are they going to give some other guys in their farm system,such as Gaviglio, a chance ? They certainly can’t be any worse than the slop relievers they have now.

Managing was more pathetic than their performance imo. What’s the point of an 8 man pen if you’re going to let one guy blow the game with 8 base runners in 1 inning? Ms had RISP all throughout the game and would have had a chance if their manager had a brain.

It’s time to rebuild, trade Cruz, Seager, Paxton, Segura, and if anyone is crazy enough to take on Cano or Felix you trade them too. If we don’t rebuild the farm, we will be very bad for another 16 years.

WAAAAAY too early to panic.
But it’s not panic if this what the M’s really are. They do need to push for a total rebuild. They can put it off all they want but reality is a brutal master. This will really test Dipoto. The farm looks thin and the ML roster is old. The M’s look like crap… time to flush.

No it’s not way too early. We have 1 starting pitcher, and our best player so far just got hurt. Tell me how many teams make the playoffs with only 1 pitcher with an ERA below 4.5? We are already 5 games under and the Astros are off to a hot start so it’s going to be very tough to climb out of this.

When Felix comes back the Mariners need to make him the closer. It worked when the Braves made Smoltz the closer. It prolonged his career and it might save Felix career. His days as a good starter are over. It’s painful watching him now and he’s doing the Mariners no good. Making him the closer will allow him to build his velocity back up and save his arm.

This has escalated quickly into an argument over who knows the least about baseball. Each of ya’ll are winners. Haniger going out is a huge blow for sure. The pitching staff is in trouble too. But really with a core of Hernandez, Cano, Cruz, and Seager you’d be hard pressed to find a GM that wasn’t in “win now mode.” And as an actual fan of this team I’ll buy into a GM who wants to win. Long have I suffered and by some of your writing skills I’d say I’m your senior. Dipoto inherited a mess of an organization and has made due with the budget that he has and made some fairly decent trades. The m’s are not as old as you think they are. The time is ticking on this roster and we’ve got until next season to panic and hit the reset button. For now I’ll be patient because that’s what baseball is patience. So stop freaking out and maybe pick up a book about the sport.

Way too early to panic and blow up this team yet. So far a lot of things have gone wrong, that happens. Injuries happen. There is still 141 games to play. Anything can and often does happen in baseball. They’re digging a deep hole for themselves and if they can’t turn it around they could be out of it by the end of May I think the disappointment You’re hearing from Seattle fans is primarily because the fans over estimated this team. They want a winner. I do,too. Let’s wait before blowing this team up and see what they can do.